Tame Iti "I Will Not Speak Māori" in stuff.co.nz ahead of his upcoming exhibition at {Suite} Wellington
"I Will Not Speak Māori” is a line Tame Iti was forced to write out hundreds of times by his school teachers. Now, the sometimes controversial Tūhoe kaumātua is creating a splash by painting the phrase across the Wellington waterfront. The words are in bold letters on scrim attached to a fence in Odlin’s Plaza, part of an art installation called I Will Not Speak Māori to celebrate Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, Māori Language Week.
The installation marks 50 years since the Māori language petition was delivered by Iti and Māori activist group Ngā Tamatoa from Tāmaki Makaurau to Parliament in Te Whanganui-a-Tara in 1972, calling for recognition of te reo Māori.
